DANBURY: Praxair executives are looking to make as much as $33 million in upgrades to the former GE Capital building that the Fortune 250 Company purchased earlier this month, according to city filings.Praxair, which had earlier cancelled plans to build its own headquarters in the city, has filed for a tax deferral with city officials looking to get a seven-year tax break on the improvements, which are not detailed in the document.
Plans for the work have yet to be submitted with the city and officials with the company didn’t provide any comments about the proposal.Sources told The News-Times, and company officials later confirmed that Praxair purchased the former GE Capital building in the Berkshire Corporate Park in early August for $20 million. Praxair currently leases out about 200,000 square feet inside the Matrix Corporate Centre, also in Danbury.
State officials confirmed in May that Praxair had abandoned plans to build a $65 million headquarters in the city. Sources said the plans had become too expensive for the company. Praxair has yet to publicly discuss its decision to abandon the project.
Stephen Angel, chairman, president and CEO of Praxair, announced the plans for the new headquarters in October. The company, which employs about 500 people in Connecticut, was promised a $30 million incentive package from the state Department of Economic and Community Development as part of the deal, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced last fall less than a week away from the gubernatorial election. At the time, Angel said the company considered other locations, noting its already-strong presence in Texas and New York.
Jim Watson, a spokesman for DECD, confirmed Monday that the state is still in negotiations with Praxair about a potential incentive deal that would help it remain in Connecticut.
The 179,000-square-foot building, which GE built in the late 1990s after purchasing the property for $2.5 million, was last appraised by the city at $20 million.
